Heinkel fighter
There are several mentions of Heinkel fighters in the works of W. E. Johns. Since the Luftwaffe never had an operational Heinkel fighter during World War 2, these mentions must be considered historically inaccurate. However, it is interesting to study how and why Johns came to mention this aircraft type. The Heinkel He 112 The Heinkel He 112 was a German single-seat fighter which was originally designed for a Luftwaffe fighter contract issued in 1933 which also featured the Messerschmitt Me 109 as its main competitor. However the He 112 proved inferior to the Bf 109 in almost every respect and was not adopted for production by the Luftwaffe. A few were however sent to participate in the Spanish Civil War as part of the Condor Legion. Only about 100 were built and the type only served with Hungary and Rumania during the Second World War. The Heinkel He 100 Following the unsuccessful bid for the fighter contract, Heinkel decided to develop a new fighter which would leapfrog the performance of the Bf 109. This design first flew in January 1939 and managed to secure the world air speed record for a while but was again not adopted for production and only some 25 were built as prototypes or test aircraft. The designation for this type should have been He 113 but Heinkel changed it to He 100 as they were superstitious about the number "13". The Heinkel He 113 Here is where a Heinkel fighter enters the W. E. Johns universe. In 1939, the German propaganda ministry decided to publicise a new, superior fighter which it called the "He 113". The He 100 prototypes were given fake squadron markings and photographed in operational settings and statements about how well the fighter had performed in the Norwegian campaign. These pieces of disinformation were apparently picked up by British intelligence and the He 113 was soon reported as having been spotted by pilots. The Guardian newspaper reports that even Air Marshal Dowding wrote about the He 113 appearing in the Battle of Britain, stating that its "main attributes were high performance and ceiling." The He 113 appeared in the May 1940 issue of The Aeroplane and was even described in the official R.A.F. aircraft recognition handbook.Neil Ascherson. "How phantom German fighter tricked Britain." theGuardian.com. url (accessed 24 Dec 2018) Thus whenever Johns mentions a Heinkel fighter, he could have been refering to the He 112 (historically inaccurate) or the fictional He 113. He might well have read about the He 113 from the many sources circulating and decided to use the type when he needed some variety in the choice of adversaries for Biggles and his colleagues. Only in one story does he actually specify a He 112, elsewhere it is simply a Heinkel fighter. Heinkel fighters in the stories of Heinkel fighters show up in Spitfire Parade on several occasions and then in Thunder Over Germany. *In Taffy Trundles In, Taffy is pursued by 5 Heinkel fighters and narrowly escapes. *In So This is War!. There are two separate instances where a Heinkel fighter occurs. First, Ginger witnessed a scene where an abandoned Spitfire plummeted in flames towards a Heinkel aircraft. The German pilot saw his danger and "banked like lightning" to escape but was too late and collided with the Spitfire. This textual description showed that a fighter type was being contemplated. A Heinkel bomber could hardly bank like lightning. A drawing by H. Radcliffe Wilson in the 1st ed. of Spitfire Parade depicts the collision Ginger witnessed. Biggles would later encounter a He 112 but Wilson's drawing is clearly not a He 112. The He 112 has an elliptical planeform and an undercarriage mounted near fuselage which retracts outwards into the wing. Here the aircraft has a straight tapered wing of much narrower chord and an undercarriage mounted in the wings which retracts inwards. It appears more like a the German propaganda creation the He 113. Compare it with the British recognition silhouettes above. *''So This is War!'' Later in the same story, Biggles sets out to hunt down the Hurricane K-4 fighting under false colours. He approaches an enemy formation which included "four Dornier 17 twin-engined bombers, a Junkers Ju 86, and a Heinkel 112 single seater fighter." This is the only time the model number is mentioned in his stories. But as can be seen above, the Luftwaffe did not use the He 112 during the Battle of Britain. *In The Record Breakers, Wilks describes a Heinkel sitting up in the sun and coming down after Biggles like a ton of bricks. Since only a fighter could have done that, it could only have been a Heinkel fighter of some kind. Biggles subsequently shot it down. *''Thunder Over Germany. In this short story from the ''Comrades in Arms anthology, there is this passage: "Biggles said no more, but turned his attention to the hostile machines that were now closing in on the three Mosquitos. Peter did not need telling that this last onset was going to be serious. Aircraft were dotted all over the sky--Messerschmitts, Heinkels and Focke-Wulfs." These Heinkels could, again, only be Heinkel fighters, whether 112 or 113. Heinkel bombers would not be closing in to attack a Mosquito. References External links *wikipedia: Heinkel He 112 *wikipedia: Heinkel He 100 *wikipedia: Heinkel He 113 Category:Aircraft Category:Actual aircraft Category:Aircraft (canonical works)